VSI HQ in Bristol officially opened
Rheinmetall House in Bristol, UK, the newly acquired Vehicle Systems International (VSI) headquarters, has been officially opened by Andy Start, CEO of Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S).
Image courtesy Rheinmetall
As Rheinmetall’s first divisional headquarters to be located outside of Germany, the VSI headquarters will focus on UK, North American and Asia-Pacific markets, providing global customers with more individualised support and promoting and enhancing wider international collaboration. It will continue to establish comprehensive, sovereign capability with commitment to the UK’s Land Industrial Strategy and to drive export from UK.
Building on Rheinmetall’s investments in the UK, Rheinmetall House includes a Collaboration and Innovation Centre (CIC) – a unique capability to promote collaboration and innovation to achieve the battlefield of the future, enabling experimentation with technology across Rheinmetall, with customers, SME’s, academia and Rheinmetall’s current and future supply chain.
The CIC provides an area dedicated to developing concepts that can be realised in the Systems Integration Lab, pulling products and technology together to integrate into platforms. This approach to Digital Engineering will reduce development time and risk, enabling technology to reach the soldier faster.
Rheinmetall House adds to Rheinmetall’s locations across the UK, including London, Telford, Newcastle, Bovington and the Isle of Wight and further building UK capability, IP and enhancing Rheinmetall’s investment in UK prosperity. In addition to being the VSI HQ, Rheinmetall House brings together all of Rheinmetall’s expertise in weapons and munitions, technical publications, tactical and logistics vehicles as well as our joint venture RBSL.
During the launch event, guests from across the customer base and industry were invited to explore the Collaboration and Innovation Centre. On display was the BRIDGE future mission module, a digital twin for the Boxer module, demonstrating how SMEs, partners, and customers are exploring future mission requirements in both physical and digital engineering domains.
Attendees also had the chance to explore the Caracal Light Mobility Vehicle; enabled for experimentation with Electronic Architectures, a Mission Master; to experiment with remote piloting and combat pairing, and a Luna NG; with potential for linking to Land platforms to provide airborne ISTAR capability. All are enabled for development in the CIC to support the battlefield of the future.
Rheinmetall House offers an established base for our UK operations, to continue working with our customer, both current and future, and will provide opportunities for key stakeholders to engage and collaborate closely with the Vehicle Systems International division.